Destiny
by Star-Light
Summary: Imzadi Fic posted for my friend - When a child is hidden away, she still finds her destiny hard to ignore and sets out to make things right.
1. Default Chapter

"Destiny - Chapter 1" by: Imzadian Orchid  
  
Summary: When a child is hidden away, she still finds her destiny hard to ignore and sets out to make things right.  
  
It drew her close, pulling her up the steep mountain trail. Each of her steps carefully calculated by the unknown force. Amaya knew she was getting close. Close to what was uncertain, but somehow she knew it was important.  
  
Abruptly her trek came to a hault infront of a cave. The entrance was small, so, on her hands and knees she crawled into the darkness of it. After two meters, the cave opened up into a large cavern, a brightness eluminating every inch of it. In its center atop a pedistool was the source of the illumination. Walking forward towards it, Amaya discovered that it was a rather large gem.  
  
The eurethral light eminating from it held a presense of mystery and envoked an overwellming feeling of curiosity in the teenager. Reaching out with her hand, to gingerly touch the crystal, she froze the moment contact was made, as images began to flow through her mind.  
  
Two people were dancing on a shadowed dance floor, a man and a woman, their faces lit with happiness and contentment. Through the window behind them, one could see pin points of light streaking by as if the universe was spinning around them. Then the woman was alone in the room, her arms wrapped around her swollen abdomen as she cried out in anguish. Sounds of chaos and war screaming from outside her solitude. She then saw a baby, swadled in blankets of emerald and ivory, her obsidien eyes gazing up at the exotic looking woman holding it. The woman was obviously distraught as she pressed a tender kiss to its forehead and handed the newborn to another woman who Amaya recognized as her late mother, Anij. The earlier woman then entered some sort of ship and excaped to the stars without the child. For a moment the images came faster, the baby grew before her eyes, from an infant to a toddler, to an elementrey child, a preteen and finally a teenager.  
  
To her surprise, Amaya found herself standing face to face with her own image. Then it was replaced by the image of the former man, his oceanic blue eyes smiling sadly down at her. As suddenly as the images had arrived, they disapaited. Replaced with a breeze that began to gently swirl around her. It lifted her long ebony curls in its current, and warmed her soul. Carefully, she removed her hand from its place on the crystal as it grew steadily in its brilliance and a voice insistantly spoke into her mind, "You must save your father...you must rescue him..."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Amaya woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed. "No way, not real." she tried to convince herself as her body shook with denial. "Not real..." she said again, her voice dying out as the two words fell from her mouth.  
  
Finally pushing away the dream, Amaya got out of bed and dressed, making her way down stairs, where she found her god-mother and father cooking breakfast. "Good morning." she spoke to them with all the forced happiness she could muster. She sensed they bought her masquerade as they both turned to look at her smiling.  
  
"Good morning, Amaya." her god-mother replied shoveling out eggs and bacon onto three plates and handing one to her. "Sleep well?"  
  
Amaya had anticipated her question and without missing a beat responded, "Yep, like a baby."  
  
The rest of the day proceeded as normal: they ate and her god parents went to help out at the community garden. The only thing different was that she was left alone today, for today was the anniversary of her mother's drowning. Every year on this day she was left to her own mourning. It was four years to this day that her mother had gone diving alone and had been caught in the underwater foliage. It had taken them six days to recover her body and by then it was obviously too late.  
  
Gathering a small basket of food for herself, Amaya took off for the lake, to have a quiet picnic there with her mother's spirit. A ritual that she had practiced every anniversary in her honor, whether her mother's spirit was there or not.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Arriving at the lake, Amaya laid the lavender quilt on the soft grass and began to carefully pull out and place each of the articles of food. Two cheese sandwiches, two pieces of friut and one piece of chocolate cake. She remembered when she was young and her and her mother use to go on picnics together, they always ate these things and every year, even though she was the only one there, she brought percisely the same things.  
  
Quietly, Amaya ate her half of the food, focusing her thoughts on her mother. When all that remained was her mother's half, she delicately wrapped the food in a white silk napkin and tied it off with a blue ribbon, setting it under the weeping willow that grew at the edge of the lake.  
  
After cleaning up, she layed out on the quilt, stretching languidly in the warm sun. In moments, Amaya found herself fast asleep, awaking once again in the cavern from her dreams. The crystal was still producing an illumination, but this time it was more subdued in its brilliance. Off to her left, she noticed a hooded figure watching her, its hood sufficiantly hiding the person's features. "Who are you?" Amaya called out , her voice echoing against the cave's stone walls.  
  
"There is no need to yell." It spoke softly in her mind with a familiar voice that Amaya couldn't place at the moment. "in fact there's no need to speak aloud at all."  
  
"I'm not a telepath, ofcourse there's a need to speak out loud." she replied back sarcastically.  
  
"No, not a telepath, but pretty close." Amaya took a step back as the figure began to move closer to her, now speakig aloud. "However, that is really besides the point."  
  
"Then what is the point?" Amaya did not move away when the figure came closer this time, instead opting to stand her ground.  
  
"You must save your father."  
  
"My father is dead, he died in a cave in."  
  
"No."  
  
"No? You're calling me a liar?" this person was starting to grate dangerously on her nerves, where did it get off saying such things.  
  
"No. There are things that you were not told, things that you must now know."  
  
"Oh yeah, and what would those 'things' be?"  
  
"The people who claimed to be your mother and father were not your parents." the figure held up a hand to Amaya to halt any arguements. "Just listen to me first, then decide for yourself." The teen only nodded in compliance. "When you were concieved, the universe was at war, it has only recently within this last few weeks disappaited. Your father had left and presumably died on a mission before your mother could tell him of you. Your mother believed that it would be too dangerous to keep you, so she brought you here to Anij and her husband Brian. You're wondering why this place would be so much safer in a war." again Amaya only nodded. The figure then explained that after something called the So'na tried to drain their world of its life affirming resources it was concluded that their planet be cloaked from offlanders and all mention of their world erased from all records.  
  
For the moment, Amaya decided to play into this little delusion, "Well then, how would I go about saving my 'father'?"  
  
"256.9 mark 3." Was all the figure said before it vanished and she found herself waking up to a rapidly setting sun.  
  
Quickly, Amaya gathered together her things back into the basket and practically ran the two miles back home. She was surprised to find that her god-parents had not yet returned and bounded up the stairs into her mother's old room, a feeling of strong confusion causing her eyes to well with salty tears.  
  
Safely inside her mother's room, Amaya went to Anij's closet to pull down her photo album. Reaching up for it, her fingers grazed across and small metallic box next to it. Grabbing the box, she inspected the locked container, the photo album forgotten for the moment. Sitting down on the bed, she sat felt overcome with a need to view its contents and went about trying to pry it open. After several minutes the rusted lock broke and fell to the floor with a dull thud. Gingerly, Amaya lifted the lid to discover several pictures.  
  
Emptying the contents onto the bed, she began to carefully examine each one. The photos all seemed to be of people she didn't even recognize. One was of a bald man, a red headed woman and another man with strangely pale skin. Another was of a black man and the pale man and young boy who looked strangely similar to a man several years older then her. Picking up yet another picture, Amaya nearly fainted when she saw the couple grinning happily at the camera. It was the couple from her dream. 


	2. Chapter 2

Destiny - Chapter 2  
  
*Note: I know my timeline doesn't exactly corralate with the real one, sorry, I needed it this way.  
  
Emptying the contents onto the bed, she began to carefully examine each one. The photos all seemed to be of people she didn't even recognize. One was of a bald man, a red headed woman and another man with strangely pale skin. Another was of a black man and the pale man and young boy who looked strangely similar to a man several years older then her. Picking up yet another picture, Amaya nearly fainted when she saw the couple grinning happily at the camera. It was the couple from her dream.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Suddenly a vision gripped Amaya's mind, causing her to go stark still as her eyes rolled back into her head....  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Eighteen years ago...  
  
Inside Will Riker's quarters, Will and Deanna sat opposite each other enjoying a quiet dinner. It had been nearly four months since their renewed relationship and things couldn't have been more perfect. They had each other, and everyone could feel Will's next offer for captaincy on the near horizon. Little did they know that things would soon become drastically different. However, for now, they existed within their own reality.  
  
All senior officers report to the observation lounge.  
  
Deanna looked up from her dinner to gaze over at Will. "Duty calls." she sighed, raising from her seat in unison with Riker.  
  
Extending his elbow to her, Will grinned at her, "Care for an escort, m'lady?" Gracifully, she accepted, hooking her arm with his as they made their way to the observation lounge together. When they reached the doors to the lounge, Will and Deanna quietly seperated, moving into professional mode. Entering, they both took their respectful positions at the table.  
  
Picard sat quietly for several moments in apparent deep thought before he spoke, but when he did, those four words choked the air from the room, "The War has begun." The war he was referring to was something that had been building for the last two years and had finally broken out completely. The Federation against the Romulans and the Cardassians, who had recently come into an unexpected treaty. "It became offical just moments ago." the Captain continued, "we are to report to Starbase 32, where we will be meeting with an federation official, to be officially briefed. Our ETA is eight hours...Dismissed."  
  
~*~  
  
Starbase 32....  
  
A raspy voice drifted from the shadows, an evil glint giving it a sharp edge. "Soon....the Federation will fall...starting with their precious flag ship."  
  
~*~  
  
The moment the Enterprise entered the system that held the starbase hell broke loose. Two Cardassian and Romulan war ships were waiting for them. They had taken over the base and killed everyone. Now the five ships were in a deadly stand off. The enemy ships not answering any of their hails.  
  
"They're powering up their weapons." Informed Worf; a growl being held tightly in his throat.  
  
"Battle stations!" Picard yelled as the crew scambled for places. "Sheilds up, target their weapons."  
  
"Targeted."  
  
"Fire."  
  
"Unable to fire, weapons have been taken offline, and our sheilds are being drained from an unknown source." Worf spat.  
  
"Invasive manuvers. Get us out of here." Picard was not one to run, but with no weapons and their sheilds down, they'd just be running anyway.  
  
~*~  
  
Safely away, Will and Deanna stood facing each other in his quarters. A small duffel was swung over his shoulder as Riker stared down into the fathomless depths of his imzadi's eyes. "I promise I'll return Dee." he told her with a confident smile, "it's really a simple mission, search and rescue." However, the look on her face was less then agreeable so he added, "Come on, if it was that dangerous, would they really have asked the Captain to lead the team?"  
  
Deanna looked down at the ground for a moment, considering his arguement. Raising her head back to meet his gaze, she sighed resined, "I suppose you're right. I'm just being paranoid." she responded with a tender half smile and a small shrug of her slim shoulders. Grinning, Will leaned down and placed a long kiss upon her lips.  
  
Straightening his uniform and adjusting the duffle Riker shot another smile at Troi. "I'll be back before you know it. We have a wedding to plan." he said with a nod towards the shimmering ring that adorned her finger. And with that, he was gone.  
  
~*~  
  
The visions seemed to then suddenly speed up again, only bits and pieced legible to Amaya's mind.  
  
~*~  
  
"You're pregnant Dee. A baby girl." Beverly spouted, embracing her best friend.  
  
~*~  
  
"It is my sad duty to report that Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. Riker, and their team have died. The reckage was discovered two light years from the rondevue point yesterday. Their were no survivors and all escape pods were accounted for. It seems that they did accomplish their mission, but were distroyed by a Cardassian ship on their return path. My condolances go out to all of the Enterprise and her crew. -End Transmission-"  
  
~*~  
  
Dust and sand filled Riker's nose and mouth as he slowly regained consiousness. Metal cuffs had been secured tightly to his wrists and ankles, biting unmercifully into his flesh. The first thing he visually noticed was two armor clad boots about a meter from were he lay. Lifting his gaze, he saw that they were attached to a very large Cardassian with one of their own phaser rifles. Cranning his neck as far as it would go, he spotted Captain Picard and the other three members of their team, all shackled in the same manner, however they all seemed to still be unconcious, or dead. William Riker prayed to whatever god would listen to him that the Enterprise would come soon, for he knew what this place was; it was a Cardassian Prison Camp.  
  
Reaching out with his mind, he tried to call out to Deanna only to be stopped short by a blinding pain that threatened to split open his skull. Some sort of neuroblock had been administered into him. He realized that moment that if he couldn't reach out to her, the effect was the same for her. Deanna would have no way to know that he was even still alive. Days went by, weeks, months, and years, and slowly he lost hope. The other three members of their team were killed within the first year, leaving only himself and Picard. No one came for them.  
  
~*~  
  
Amaya gasped for oxygen as she came to, still tasting the decrepid sand in her mouth, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. "They left him there ..... to die. They ... abandoned my..... father." she wept. "I have to find him, to save him." 


	3. Chapter 3

~*~  
  
Amaya gasped for oxygen as she came to, still tasting the decrepid sand in her mouth, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. "They left him there ..... to die. They ... abandoned my..... father." she wept. "I have to find him, to save him."  
  
~*~  
  
Several minutes later, Amaya lay curled upon the bed. Calming herself she sat up gathering all of the pictures back into the box. She had to find transportation off of this planet, she had to find and save her father and his friend, considering they were both still alive.  
  
It took her a few days, but Amaya had finally found everything she needed, star charts, clothes, food rations and water were hidden next to the shuttle she had found in the scrap yard. Only one problem remained, the shuttle was in serious need of repair, it was going to take her several days to bring it back online and several more to get the old thing functioning again. Most of its componants had been stripped from the vehicle to make different things inside the village she lived in, but she was sure she could make do. She had always considered herself resourceful.  
  
Two and a half weeks later, Amaya stood inside the refurbished shuttle admiring her work. She had been able to construct all of the missing elements and put the thing back together with the help of some schematics she had found in the public library, "Only one last test." she muttered to herself, leaning down to connect that last pathway that would hopefully bring online the computer system.  
  
Endless moments went by as Amaya waited, hoping. Finally she began to hear the small beeps and noises that indicated the computer was starting up. After a few minutes all went silent and a mechanical voice filled her ears. "Computer activated. How do you wish to proceed?" The two short sentences overcame Amaya with a giddyness of accomplishment, followed by a small pang of nervousness.  
  
"Computer run a full system's check, I want to know if this shuttle is capable of making it to sector 14 and back." she had discovered that the course 256.9 mark 3, if plotted from her planet would take her to that sector, she had investigated that there were only two planets there capable of supporting human life and that one of them was a virtual desert, which was exactly what she was looking for. Amaya just hoped that she wasn't going to be going on some sort of wild goose chase, get there and find nothing.  
  
"Acknowledged, proceeding." it replied, then all was once again silent as Amaya wandered around the small shuttle, storing away everything she would need for the trip. According to her calculations it should take her about one week to reach the small desert plant at warp 4.  
  
~*~  
  
Fourty minutes later the computer's voice cut through the silence with its report. "All systems operational, this shuttle is capable to travel to sector 14 and return safely." A quiet sigh fell from Amaya's lips, the only thing left was to leave. She wanted to tell her god-parents that she was going, but she knew that they would not understand and try to convice her to stay. A short note was laying on her pillow at home for them to find in the morning, explaining her reasons of departure, that would have to be good enough for now.  
  
"Computer, bring engines online." Amaya commanded as she took her place at the pilot's seat.  
  
"Engines online."  
  
Amaya fingers flew swiftly accross the console, within a few short minutes she had lifted off the ground and proceeded to escape from the atmosphere of the only thing, and everyone she had ever known. "Computer plot course, 256.9 mark 3, warp factor 4."  
  
"Plotted."  
  
"Engage." and with that simple order, she was on her way to meet her destiny.  
  
~*~  
  
*Note: sorry this chapter was kind of short.* 


End file.
